A group of 70 Tibetan farmers and herders left for Beijing
Tuesday to rehearse Tibetan singing and dancing performances for
the new year eve gala on the China Central Television (CCTV).
The amateur artists, 40 men and 30 women, will stage a
five-minute program at the gala on Feb. 17, the eve of the Chinese
Lunar New Year, which will be broadcast live to nationwide TV
viewers and overseas Chinese.
This will be the first time for traditional Tibetan programs to
appear at the country's highest-profile gala performance, said
Purbu Oinzen, vice president of the troupe for farmers and herders
in Lhaze County of Xigaze.
The farmer-turned artists will stage a festive Tibetan tap dance
and rap, accompanied by traditional music played on guitar-like
instruments. "It'll help people from outside Tibet learn about the
traditional art form -- after all, the new year eve gala is one of
the most widely watched TV programs," said Zhaxi Puncog, a villager
in Lhaze county.
Nearly 50,000 people in the county dance the tap dance, a
centuries-old folk art. The local administration in charge of
tobacco sales sponsored the founding of the amateur troupe in Nov.
2005 to commercialize the art form and boost local economic
development.
The troupe has 90 artists, all Tibetans, aged between 17 and 43
and has performed in Beijing and Hangzhou in the eastern Zhejiang
Province. The artists report an average annual earning of 10,000
yuan (US$1,282), said Oinzen.
(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2007)